![]() ![]() The French immediately took the danger seriously: a year after the war's end, it bought 10,000 hectares of battleground, consigning the villages to history and allowing nature to take back the blighted land. It is thought as many as 65 million shells may have been fired over the course of the battle, many of these filled with poisons. Then there were the chemical-packed weapons which exploded across the once green fields, lying on the ground. The remains of the young men who fought valiantly for their countries were hidden in what once had been a peaceful idyll. Remains: The trenches can still be made out by tourists visiting the woods today What they could not have known then, as they counted the cost, was the damage they had done to the land. More than 300,000 families lost their sons in this battle of attrition have to come to terms with their loss, and nine villages had been blasted into oblivion, 'submerged in soldier's blood, crammed with dead bodies gnawed by rats', according to contemporary Abbot Thellier de Poncheville. This would continue for another 300 days: when it ended, the French victorious, they had moved only a few hundred yards from where they began, having obliterated a piece of earth larger than the city of Paris. Blown into showers bellies turned inside out skulls forced into the chest as if by a blow from a club'. ![]() Cut in two or divided from top to bottom. The whole valley is turned into a volcano, and its exit blocked by the barrier of the slain.'Īnother remembered how the 'men were squashed. Then our heavy artillery bursts forth in fury. 'Once more our shells carve awful gaps in their ranks. One French officer recalled: 'When the first wave of the assault is decimated, the ground is dotted with heaps of corpses, but the second wave is already pressing on. The aim, said Erich von Falkenhayn, the German chief of the general, was to 'bleed the French army white'. On the first day alone, the Germans - who sent 140,000 soldiers to attack the French town at the start - had 1,000 guns pummeling the earth, and the French soldiers. Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Few could have imagined, when the Germans stormed the town of Verdun, near the border with Belgium, on February 21, 1916, what the repercussions would be down the generations.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history. ![]() #WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions. ![]()
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